We ask for your donations to help this family from Honduras

During an ICE raid carried out on Aug. 4, agencies including the Pomona Police Dept. and the DMV raided homes in Pomona and Montclair wherein they confiscated cars, cell phones, cash and receipts. The family is much need. We ask for your support. 100 percent of the proceeds will be for the family.

You can make your donation online using PayPal on our website at http://pomonadaylabor.org/donate/ or by mailing your check to P.O. Box 2496, Pomona, CA. 91766. Your gift is tax deductible and will allow the PEOC to continue in strengthening our work and our community. For more information, please contact us at (909) 397-4215 or peoc.staff@pomonadaylabor.org

Thank you so much for your support! With your support we will be able to continue to transform the community and empowering working people in our region.

To make a donation, use our Pay Pal account below

You can also make donations to Centro de Inmigrante:
Centro del Inmigrante, Inc.
6600 Jurupa Avenue #205
Riverside, CA 92504

We ask for your donations to help this family from Honduras

On the night of August 4, 2016 Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials in conjunction with Pomona police department and Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) came to the Bonilla family home. These officials tore down their door, pointing weapons at everyone there including small children. They confiscated 6 vehicles, all the family’s cellphones, receipts and cash at hand. Seven of the adult family members which contribute to the family’s well-being remain detained under the threat of deportation. To make matters worse the Bonilla family have been the victims of organized crime in their native country, has at least three members of the family have been assassinated by drug cartels.

While efforts to provide legal services for the family members detained are ongoing the purpose of this communication is to call for solidarity in supporting the family in their daily expenses. Without the adult family members who contribute financially, the rent is falling behind and they are running short on funds for groceries and other daily expenses.
Whatever donation possible will help this family greatly, until a permanent solution is found. Donations are tax deductible. If your church or organization is in southern California region the Bonilla family is willing to give testimony about their situation.

Members of the Inland?Coalition of Immigrant Justice protested outside the U.S. Citizens and Immigration?Services building on West?Rialto Avenue, demanding the shut down of theImmigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Adelanto, citing conditions at the privately run facility that they say has led to the deaths of three detainees.

“We believe in family unity, that families are stronger together and that immigrants are human!” coalition director Javier Hernandez told those in attendance.

The protest was part of a planned week-long series of events aimed to call attention to conditions at the Adelanto facility. The 5-year-old center has been the target of protests for years.

It also was the second time this year that a group protested in front of the building, according to a security guard, but this time, a second group, Claremont-based group We The People Rising, came to counter-protest.

POMONA, California — Filipino and Hispanic community members rallied at the Pomona Economic Opportunity Center on Friday, March 4 to launch the campaign for Senate Bill 1015, aimed at protecting the dignity and rights of domestic workers and families.
Senator Connie M. Leyva (Dem-Chino), who championed the bill, joined with community members, activists, leaders, and civil rights organizations in support of the law.
SB 1015 builds upon Assembly Bill 241, the California Bill of Rights, which was signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown in 2013 and grants overtime protections to California’s privately hired domestic workers, improving their quality of life.

SB 1015 builds on the Assembly bill’s success by removing the “sunset provision” that designates January 1, 2017, as when the law expires and will no longer be in effect (unless reinstated or extended). Leyva’s SB 1015 will make the law permanent.
“After a long week in Sacramento, I am so happy to be here. To our domestic workers, thank you for what you do every day,” Leyva said in her remarks.
“This [bill] is about dignity, it’s about respect; it’s about the value of hard work. This is a discriminatory issue, because most of our domestic workers are women,” she continued, looking at the women in the crowd.
“When you’re not paid overtime, we’ve saying that we don’t value your work. And you take care of our most important people–our children, our disabled community, and our parents, who can’t care for themselves.”

Excluded from labor rights

The 1930s brought a change of labor laws to the U.S. However, domestic workers–caregivers, housekeepers, butlers, nannies, maids, assistant “hired help” employees, etc.–were excluded from the rights and protections promised to them, and their work was not valued as “real work.”
In 2005, the California Domestic Workers Coalition was formed by multiple grassroots organizations, as a “statewide network ensuring that statewide laws and agencies protect domestic workers from abuse, and uphold the dignity of domestic work.” Some of these organizations include the Pilipino Workers Center (PWC), Filipino Advocates for Justice and the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA).
According to the Coalition, many of California’s families, elderly, and people with disabilities rely on the support and care of over 300,000 domestic workers. Los Angeles County has the state’s highest concentration of domestic workers, with over 122,400 people employed in the industry.
“I am very confident with all of your help, with the California [Domestic Workers] Coalition, we are going to make this happen,” Leyva continued. “It’s going to be a permanent law, and then we’ll have even more work to do.”
Members of CHIRLA and PWC, employees and their families, were present to show their support. Domestic workers told stories about their experiences as in-home care assistants, oftentimes facing abusive and severely overworked/underpaid conditions.

Abused by employers

“For almost two years, my employer abused me and pulled my chain,” said Teresita Villasenor, a Filipina member of PWC and caregiver for 45 years. “I worked like a horse for 84 hours in a week, without any break, and was paid about $100 a day. I did not know that domestic workers like me are excluded in labor laws, and my case was dismissed.”
“Last year, I joined [Pilipino Workers Center] and learned about AB 241, that I have rights, that there are laws to protect me and treat me fairly,” Villasenor added. “Now, I am one of the thousands of caregivers in California who are enjoying overtime benefits and allowance. I have more time for my family, for my floral design program, and I enjoy the company of my new employer. My patients and I enjoy doing creative art and activities together. I got my life back!”
Emily Uy, a member of PWC, shared that she worked as a live-in home care worker who was on call for 24 hours a day. Her salary, however, did not match the long hours she worked.
“[It] was so little I could hardly make both ends meet,” she said. “With the passing of AB 241, I had more breathing room and felt less worry and like my dignity was restored.”
Domestic work is essential to the dignity of both workers’ and employers’ families, yet their fair compensation is being challenged by the ‘sun-setting’ of current domestic workers’ rights law, said the CA Domestic Workers Coalition.

Win-win bill

“Having labor protections feels like a win-win situation for everyone because my employer can enjoy truly loving and quality support coming from a care worker who has dignity and respect,” Uy added.
Workers at the rally called for the passage of Leyva’s SB 1015, to ensure that domestic work remains recognized, protected, and celebrated to improve the quality of life.
“This is another step forward for immigrant workers, for Filipinos, and for women workers as well, because we are taking another step towards really making our rights permanent. It starts with people, word-of-mouth awareness, education and visibility. We are at a new level now,” said Aqui Soriano Versoza, executive director of PWC.
PWC provides a multilingual hotline service, workforce and skills training, leadership development, know-your-rights and labor cases workshops for immigrant employees.
“Filipinos have been some of the most courageous coming out, speaking and reaching out to families who want to improve the rights and lives of domestic workers,” she added. “We are building momentum. Immigrant workers know that the work they are doing is important, and that they are deserving of rights. This has been a huge victory for our community.”
Read more: http://globalnation.inquirer.net/137648/california-domestic-workers-launch-drive-for-protective-law#ixzz46CfmPKiG

Teresita Villasenor was working 12 hours a day, seven days a week, for 18 months straight.

“I felt like I was a slave,” she told The Huffington Post regarding the job she quit in 2014. Villasenor is from the Philippines and has been working as a caregiver in the U.S. for the past five years. She is one of thousands of domestic workers in California fighting to make overtime laws for caregivers permanent in the state.

“I had no days off for 18 months,” she said. “My boss took advantage of me, and I wasn’t getting enough pay. I was working like a horse, I didn’t even have time to read a book. I felt depressed, and oppressed.”

The California Bill of Rights currently protects overtime pay for personal attendants, such as nannies and caregivers for seniors or the disabled. But there’s a hitch: when the law was passed in 2013, it was signed as a provisional law, which means it will expire in 2017 unless a new law is passed by September.

“The dignity of domestic workers isn’t a provisional right — it is something that should be a permanent condition,” said Katie Joaquin, campaign director for the California Domestic Workers Coalition, to the Huffington Post on Friday.

The campaign will mobilize domestic workers statewide on a monthly basis to engaged in press activities, rallies and other actions until Gov. Brown signs the new bill, which Senator Connie Leyva introduced last month, to make overtime protection permanent.

In California, there are over 300,000 domestic workers, according to a press release from Sen. Connie Leyva. Most of these workers are immigrant women.

“This is part of the entrenched undervaluing of women’s work,” said Joaquin.“These are mothers, aunties, grandmothers, who are breadwinners for their families, and are also supporting families in the country where they come from.”

“Working behind closed doors, beyond the reach of personnel policies, and often without employment contracts, [domestic workers] are subject to the whims of their employers,” the study said. “Some employers are terrific, generous and understanding. Others, unfortunately, are demanding, exploitative and abusive.”

In California, 90 percent of domestic workers who worked overtime did not always receive overtime pay, according to a 2007 Household Worker Rights Coalition Survey.

“This is part of the entrenched undervaluing of women’s work.”

“Often there isn’t a clear outline of what work is expected, the amount of time it takes, and that they should be paid for all of it,” Joaquin said. “There’s an unstated expectation that whatever needs arise, it is the domestic worker’s responsibility. When an employer has the power to make requests at whatever time, it feels like a relationship of servitude.”

Rather than giving workers a firm schedule, employers will often have an on-call arrangement, particularly for workers who live in the home, elaborated Joaquin. When work expectations are not laid out, workers are not able to live their own lives, be with their families, and do things they want to do on their own time.

“We’re watching over people around the clock,” Villasenor said in regard to her previous experience caring for a person with disabilities. “The family of the patient calls to see how he is doing. They aren’t there, the doctor isn’t there, you are there. Even in your sleep, you’re required to get up anytime they need you.”

“Before, I was earning 100 dollars a day,” said Villasenor of her previous job. “Now I make 200 dollars a day! I still work 12 hours a day, but I earn more, I work Monday through Thursday and I get overtime pay. I feel like a person now. I got my life back.”

Even if the new overtime bill is signed into law, that’s only half the battle.

“It’s not just the laws, it’s also getting them enforced,” said Joaquin. “Legislation is a vehicle, to raise consciousness, to assert what are dignified standards on the ground.”

“I asked ‘When we get a domestic bill of rights, will the abuse end?’ There was silence.”

After an overtime law took effect in New York state, for instance, just 15 percent of parents surveyed actually paid their nannies overtime, according to the Nation.

To enforce the law, a worker would have to bring a lawsuit against their employer or file an administrative claim with the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, according to the California Domestic Workers Coalition.

An alarming 91 percent of workers who encountered problems with their working conditions did not complain, because they were afraid they would lose their job, according to the 2012 study. What’s more, 85 percent of undocumented immigrants who encountered problems did not complain because they feared their immigration status would be used against them.

“At one of our coalition meetings, I asked ‘When we get a domestic bill of rights, will the abuse end?’” said Joaquin. “There was silence. It’s not like everything will all of a sudden be perfect. It’s a starting point, to create a culture shift around what the value of this work is, and what still needs to change.”

California is one of only five states in the country to have passed a domestic workers bill of rights, according to Joaquin, including NY (2010), HI (2013), MA(2014) and CT (2015)

POMONA, Calif. — Filipino and Hispanic community members rallied at the Pomona Economic Opportunity Center on Friday, March 4 to launch the campaign for Senate Bill 1015, aimed at protecting the dignity and rights of domestic workers and families.

Senator Connie M. Leyva (D-Chino), who championed the bill, joined with community members, activists, leaders, and civil rights organizations in support of the law. SB 1015 builds upon Assembly Bill 241, the California Bill of Rights, which was signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown in 2013 and grants overtime protections to California’s privately hired domestic workers, improving their quality of life.

SB 1015 builds on that bill’s success by removing the “sunset provision” that designates January 1, 2017, as when the law expires and will no longer be in effect (unless reinstated or extended). Leyva’s SB 1015 will make the law permanent.

“After a long week in Sacramento, I am so happy to be here. To our domestic workers, thank you for what you do every day,” Leyva said in her remarks. “After all of your hard work, you passed AB 241, and it was a great victory. When the California Domestic Workers Coalition came to me and asked if I would make a bill that would do away with the sunset provision, I could not have been more excited and more honored.”

“This [bill] is about dignity, it’s about respect; it’s about the value of hard work. This is a discriminatory issue, because most of our domestic workers are women,” she continued, looking at the women in the crowd. “When you’re not paid overtime, we’ve saying that we don’t value your work. And you take care of our most important people–our children, our disabled community, and our parents, who can’t care for themselves.”

The 1930s brought a change of labor laws to the US. However, domestic workers–caregivers, housekeepers, butlers, nannies, maids, assistant “hired help” employees, etc.–were excluded from the rights and protections promised to them, and their work was not valued as “real work.”

In 2005, the California Domestic Workers Coalition was formed by multiple grassroots organizations, as a “statewide network ensuring that statewide laws and agencies protect domestic workers from abuse, and uphold the dignity of domestic work.” Some of these organizations include the Pilipino Workers Center (PWC), Filipino Advocates for Justice and the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA).

According to the Coalition, many of California’s families, elderly, and people with disabilities rely on the support and care of over 300,000 domestic workers. Los Angeles County has the state’s highest concentration of domestic workers, with over 122,400 people employed in the industry.

“I am very confident with all of your help, with the California [Domestic Workers] Coalition, we are going to make this happen,” Leyva continued. “It’s going to be a permanent law, and then we’ll have even more work to do.”

Members of CHIRLA and PWC, employees and their families, were present to show their support. Domestic workers told stories about their experiences as in-home care assistants, oftentimes facing abusive and severely overworked/underpaid conditions.

“For almost two years, my employer abused me and pulled my chain,” said Teresita Villasenor, a Filipina member of PWC and caregiver for 45 years. “I worked like a horse for 84 hours in a week, without any break, and was paid about $100 a day. I did not know that domestic workers like me are excluded in labor laws, and my case was dismissed.”

“Last year, I joined [Pilipino Workers Center] and learned about AB 241, that I have rights, that there are laws to protect me and treat me fairly,” Villasenor added. “Now, I am one of the thousands of caregivers in California who are enjoying overtime benefits and allowance. I have more time for my family, for my floral design program, and I enjoy the company of my new employer. My patients and I enjoy doing creative art and activities together. I got my life back!”

Emily Uy, a member of PWC and a personal attended, shared that she worked as a live-in home care worker who was on call for 24 hours a day. Her salary, however, did not match the long hours she worked.

“[It] was so little I could hardly make both ends meet,” she said. “With the passing of AB 241, I had more breathing room and felt less worry and like my dignity was restored.”

Domestic work is essential to the dignity of both workers’ and employers’ families, yet their fair compensation is being challenged by the ‘sun-setting’ of current domestic workers’ rights law, said the CA Domestic Workers Coalition.

“Having labor protections feels like a win-win situation for everyone because my employer can enjoy truly loving and quality support coming from a care worker who has dignity and respect,” Uy added.

Workers at the rally called for the passage of Leyva’s SB 1015, to ensure that domestic work remains recognized, protected, and celebrated to improve the quality of life.

“This is another step forward for immigrant workers, for Filipinos, and for women workers as well, because we are taking another step towards really making our rights permanent. It starts with people, word-of-mouth awareness, education and visibility. We are at a new level now,” said Aqui Soriano Versoza, executive director of PWC.

PWC provides a multilingual hotline service, workforce and skills training, leadership development, know-your-rights and labor cases workshops for immigrant employees. “Filipinos have been some of the most courageous coming out, speaking and reaching out to families who want to improve the rights and lives of domestic workers,” she added. “We are building momentum. Immigrant workers know that the work they are doing is important, and that they are deserving of rights. This has been a huge victory for our community.”